Electrician s screw-driver



Patented Feb. 4, 1896.

ELEGTRIGIAN'S SCREW DRIVER- (No Model.)

JOSEPH R-EECE, OF PULASKI, NEXV YORK.

ELECTRICIANS SCREW DRlVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 553,965, dated February4, 1896. Application filed May 31,1895. seam. 551,198. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OSEPH REEoE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pulaski, in the county of Oswego and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Electricians Screw-Driver, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in screw-drivers and isdesigned especially for use by electricians.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, convenientand efficient article of the character referred to, which shall bethoroughly insulated for adapting the same to be used with safety inelectric plants while the current is on. r

A further object of the invention is to provide such screw-driver with aseries of grooves or annular pockets for the reception of fusewire ofdifferent gages and to combine therewith a removable shell or casing ofnon-conducting material adapted to cover and inclose the fuse-wires andto be locked to the shank of the screw-driver.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the courseof the subjoined description.

The invention con sists in a screw-driver embodying certain novelfeatures and details of construction and arrangement of parts, ashereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings and finallypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of ascrew-driver constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section through the handle and removable shell or case, theshank of the screw-driver being partly in section also. Fig. 3 is a viewin elevation of the screw-driver with the shell or case removed. Fig. atis a detail section through the end of the removable shell or case,taken at right angles to Fig. 2.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in theseveral figures of the drawings.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a suitable handleof non-conducting material, such as hard or vulcanized rubber, the bodyof said handle being of sufficient extent longitudinally to form a firmsu pport for the shank 2 of the screw-driver. The body of the handle isformed with a longitudinal central bore extending entirely through thesame, in which is fitted the shank of the screwdriver, said bore beingincreased in diameter at the butt of the handle to provide for thereception of the head 3 of the shank. This head may be either round orpolygonal, or a portion of the shank near the head may be squared orflattened, as indicated at 4, to prevent said shank and handle fromturning relatively to each other. After the shank 2 is inserted throughthe bore of the handle 1 the enlarged end of said bore, at the butt ofthe handle, is filled with rubber or other non-conducting material in asoft or plastic state and the same allowed to harden, the effect ofwhich is to securely bind and lock the shank of the screw-driver withinthe handle, as shown in Fi 2.

The body of the handle is provided at intervals with annular grooves orpockets 5,

which may be of different widths and capacities, the same being adaptedto receivea supply of fuse-wires of different gages, with which theoperator may patch a line-wire, such wires being indicated at 6. For thesake of con venien'ce these grooves or pockets are numbered to indicatethe size or gage of the Wire, said numbers being applied to the outersur-- face or periphery of the intervening partitions. The handle isprovided also with a cylindrical socket or recess 7 in its end, in whichis arranged a spiral spring 8, said spiral spring being disposed aroundthe shank of the screwdriver and interposed between a washer 9 in thebase of said socket or recess and an outer washer 10, also surroundingthe shank 2, just beneath a pin 11 inserted through a perforation in thescrew-driver shank and projecting at its ends from opposite sides ofsaid shank.

12 designates a shell or cylindrical case, which is made slightlytapering and adapted to fit over and snugly surround the grooved portionof the handle, the lower or adjacent end of said shell or case beingadapted to fit within an annular groove 13 in the head or butt of thehandle, as indicated-in Fig. 2.

This shell or case at its outer end is formed with a perforation orcircular hole of a size corresponding to the diameter of the shank 2, bymeans of which said shell is adapted to be passed over the end of theshank and moved inward. This end of the shell or case is also providedwith oppositely-disposed grooves ll, extending entirely through the sameand radiating from the central circular opening, by means of which thepin 11, carried by the screwd river shank,is adapted to pass through theend of the shell or case from the inside. After the pin 11 passesthrough the grooves 1f the shank 2, with the aid of the handle 1, isgiven a quarter-turn, so as to bring said pin or the projecting endsthereof into alignment with an oppositely-disposed pair of radialsockets or depressions 15, arranged substantially at right angles to thegrooves 1a. In this position the washer 10 bears against the inner faceof the closed end of the shell or case 12, and the tension of the spring8 is exerted to hold the pin 11 in engagement with said sockets.

To remove the shell or case 12, for the purpose of obtaining access tothe fuse-wires, said shell or case is drawn inward against the tensionof the spring sufficiently to disengage the pin 11 from the sockets 15and a quarterturn given to the handle, which brings the projecting endsof said pin into line with the slots or grooves 14, when the shell orcase may be readily removed.

The screw-driver herein described will be found very convenient in useby electricians or those who work in and about an electric plant. Byreason of the handle and the inclosing case or shell being made fromnonconducting material the device is. perfectly safe to be used whilethe current is on, and on account of the handle being adapted to carry asupply of fuse-wires of different sizes or gages the tool will be foundvery convenient and useful.

It will be apparent that changes in the form, proportion, and minordetails of construction may be resorted to without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent, is

1. In a screw-driver, a handle composed of material which is anon-conductor of electricity and formed with an annular pocket adaptedto have a supply of wire wound around the same, the screw-driver shankpermanently embedded in said handle, and a removable inclosing shell orcase composed of material similar to the handle and adapted to beapplied and locked thereto, substantially in the manner and for thepurpose de scribed.

2. In a screw-driver, the combination with a handle composed of materialwhich is anonconductor of electricity and having formed therein a seriesof annular pockets for the reception of fuse-wires, of a screw-drivershank permanently embedded therein and provided with a transversethrough-pin and a removable inclosing shell or case closed at one endand open at the other and adapted to fit over said handle and to coverthe pockets therein, said shell being provided in its closed end with aslot crossing the aperture for the shank and adapted to permit thepassage of said pin, substantially as specified.

3. In a screw-driver, a handle having formed therein a series of annulargrooves or pockets for the reception of fuse-wires or other material, incombination with a screw-driver shank carried thereby and having a fixedrelation thereto, a pin carried by and projecting laterally fromopposite sides of said shank, and a removable shell or case fitting overand covering the pockets in said handle and provided in its outer endwith grooves or slots for permitting the passage of the projecting endsof said pin, substantially as set forth.

t. In a screw-driver, a handle having formed therein pockets for thereception of fusewires or other material, in combination with ascrew-driver shank fitting therein and carried thereby, a removableshell or case fitting over and covering said pockets and provided at oneend with radial grooves or slots for permitting the passage of a pincarried by the shank of the screw-driver and with radially-extendingsockets or depressions in its outer face for the reception of the endsof the pin,and a spiral spring interposed between the end of the handleand the adjacent inner face of the closed end of the shell or case, allarranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. In a screw-driver, a handle formed with a series of annular groovesor pockets, and with a groove 13 in the head thereof, in combinationwith a screw-driver shank fitting within and carried by said handle, apin carried by said shank and having its ends proj ecting laterally uponopposite sides thereof, a cylindrical shell or case fitting over saidhandle and covering the pockets therein and adapted to have its open endreceived within said groove 13 in the handle, and also formed in itsopposite end with a circular central opening and with a pair of groovesor slots radiating therefrom and also with a radiallyextending pair ofsockets or depressions in its outer face, and a spiral spring arrangedwithin said shell or case and interposed between the outer end of thesame and said handle and disposed around the shank of the screw-driver,substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affi Xedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

J OSEIII REECE.

\Vitnesses:

WM. II. EDWARDS, W. G. REECE.

ICC

